Mwave was a technology developed by
IBM allowing for the combination of
telephony
Telephony ( ) is the field of technology involving the development, application, and deployment of telecommunication services for the purpose of electronic transmission of voice, fax, or data, between distant parties. The history of telephony is i ...
and
sound card
A sound card (also known as an audio card) is an internal expansion card that provides input and output of audio signals to and from a computer under the control of computer programs. The term ''sound card'' is also applied to external audio i ...
features on a single adapter card. The technology centers around the Mwave
digital signal processor
A digital signal processor (DSP) is a specialized microprocessor chip, with its architecture optimized for the operational needs of digital signal processing. DSPs are fabricated on MOS integrated circuit chips. They are widely used in audio si ...
(DSP). The technology was used for a time to provide a combination modem and sound card for IBM's
Aptiva
The IBM Aptiva personal computer was introduced in September 1994 as the replacement for the IBM PS/1. The first Aptiva models were based on the Intel 80486 CPU with later models using the Pentium and AMD CPUs. All systems were developed in-house ...
line and some
ThinkPad
ThinkPad is a line of business-oriented laptop computers and tablet computers, tablets designed, developed and marketed by Lenovo, and formerly by IBM until 2005, when IBM's Personal computer, PC business was acquired by Lenovo. ThinkPads have ...
laptops, in addition to uses on specialized Mwave cards that handled voice recognition or ISDN networking connectivity. Similar adapter cards by third-party vendors using Mwave technology were also sold. However, plagued by
consumer complaint
A consumer complaint or customer complaint is "an expression of dissatisfaction on a consumer's behalf to a responsible party" (London, 1980). It can also be described in a positive sense as a report from a consumer providing documentation about ...
s about buggy Mwave
software
Software is a set of computer programs and associated documentation and data. This is in contrast to hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work.
At the lowest programming level, executable code consists ...
and
hardware, IBM eventually turned to other audio and telephony solutions for its consumer products.
History
Malcolm Ware, a former developer on Mwave, dates the technology back to its development in an IBM research lab in
Zurich, Switzerland in 1979. The first
prototype
A prototype is an early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process. It is a term used in a variety of contexts, including semantics, design, electronics, and Software prototyping, software programming. A prototyp ...
was tested in an IBM
PC in 1981. After being utilized in some other adapter cards, Mwave was given its official name and used in IBM's WindSurfer
ISA/
MCA card. IBM manufactured Mwave hardware for both
Microsoft Windows
Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...
and its own
OS/2
OS/2 (Operating System/2) is a series of computer operating systems, initially created by Microsoft and IBM under the leadership of IBM software designer Ed Iacobucci. As a result of a feud between the two companies over how to position OS/2 ...
. Another revision of the technology was used in IBM's newly renamed Aptiva line.
One of the revisions of the Mwave card was the Mwave Dolphin. The card was an ISA legacy card that did not support
plug and play
In computing, a plug and play (PnP) device or computer bus is one with a specification that facilitates the recognition of a hardware component in a system without the need for physical device configuration or user intervention in resolving resou ...
and natively supported Windows through its software. It featured a 28.8
k/second fax/modem and a
Sound Blaster
Sound Blaster is a family of sound cards designed by Singaporean technology company Creative Technology (known in the US as Creative Labs). Sound Blaster sound cards were the de facto standard for consumer audio on the IBM PC compatible system pl ...
-compatible audio solution. One of the card's most publicized features was its software upgradeability: a version of the Mwave software upgraded the modem function to 33.6k. In addition, the card was key in the support of some of the Aptiva's Rapid Resume features, including Wake-up On Ring. There were various consumer complaints with users reporting problems involving either the sound or modem features separately, or using both at the same time. Some consumers were offered a check for the purchase of hardware to replace the Mwave card, while others were offered a replacement modem, sound card or both. At one point, a
class action lawsuit
A class action, also known as a class-action lawsuit, class suit, or representative action, is a type of lawsuit where one of the parties is a group of people who are represented collectively by a member or members of that group. The class action ...
was filed;
it was finally settled in 2001.
Mwave Dolphin drivers version 20D and the Stingray version of the Mwave adapter addressed some shortcomings of the Dolphin (Stingray added
plug and play
In computing, a plug and play (PnP) device or computer bus is one with a specification that facilitates the recognition of a hardware component in a system without the need for physical device configuration or user intervention in resolving resou ...
support), but IBM eventually stopped using the Mwave adapter card in its Aptiva computers and resorted to conventional sound card and modem options.
Mwave in some form or another has been produced for the MCA, ISA and PCMCIA
bus
A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...
ses. Select ThinkPad 600 and 770 models had a PCI version integrated (the Mwave chip integrated in select ThinkPad 755, 760 and 765 models was ISA-based). Certain Sun Sparcstation workstations incorporated the Mwave DSP chip for sound card functionality.
Although Mwave adapter cards were discontinued, a
Linux
Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, which ...
driver for the PCI-based Mwave in the ThinkPad 600 and 770 models was developed and released by IBM.
See also
*
U.S. Robotics, Courier modems - Internal DSP design allowed soft upgrades.
References
;Notes
*
*
External links
Ted Felix's Mwave pageMwave MDSP2780 as used in select ThinkPad 755, 760 and 765 models, at ThinkWiki.org
Mwave MDSP3780 as used in select ThinkPad 600 and 770 models, at ThinkWiki.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ibm Mwave
Mwave
Mwave was a technology developed by IBM allowing for the combination of telephony and sound card features on a single adapter card. The technology centers around the Mwave digital signal processor (DSP). The technology was used for a time to pr ...
Mwave
Mwave was a technology developed by IBM allowing for the combination of telephony and sound card features on a single adapter card. The technology centers around the Mwave digital signal processor (DSP). The technology was used for a time to pr ...
Digital signal processors